An aviation brigade of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force held a live-fire exercise off the country's southeastern coast on Wednesday, according to a statement from the PLA Ground Force.

The statement, which was released on Thursday morning, said several types of armed helicopters took off from a coastal area in China's southeastern region and took part in the exercise. The operation had many demanding scenarios and verified and improved the brigade's all-day combat capability on the sea, it said.

WZ-19 and Z-9 attack helicopters fired rockets and missiles on mock armored vehicles and target ships during the drill, which began around 9 am and concluded around 11 pm. They practiced tactical maneuvers such as target reconnaissance, sea-skimming assault and joint strike, according to the statement.